Smallholder agriculture contributes to poverty alleviation through food price reduction and employment creation. Smallholder farmers have the potential of creating employment because they are labour-intensive. Most small holder farmers in the Amathole District practices dual farming system i.e. crops and livestock production. However these farmers are faced by a number of constraints amongst these are land tenure security, lack of capital, drought, diseases, lack of access to markets and production inputs. The objectives of this study were: to investigate land tenure security impact on-farm investment and on-farm productivity by the smallholder farmers; to assess constraints encountered by the smallholder farmers, to identify factors influencing on-farm investment by the smallholder farmers and to identify factors influencing on-farm productivity by the smallholder farmers. Eighty smallholder farmers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages) and regression analyses. Data was for coded and processed for analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results revealed that generally, the household demographic characteristics have an influence on the decision to investment in the farm thus on farm productivity. These included age, gender, marital status, educational level and household size of the smallholder farmers. However the findings revealed that smallholder farmers were not much concerned with the land tenure security of the land as they see themselves as owners of these lands. The reason being that they always had access to their land and there were no perceived tenure insecurity threats. The majority of the smallholder farmers were not worried that they might lose their land in the future as they felt that their land tenure was secured. Although, the majority of farmers had some sense of security they still preferred a freehold tenure system as form of land tenure security. This suggests that there was a sense of insecurity among some of the smallholder farmers caused by their current tenure forms. Majority (66%) of the farmers held their land under freehold whilst leasehold and communal hold farmers constituted 5 % and 29 % respectively. Even though majority had freehold tenure system, they could not use their land as collateral when required for funding from the lending institutions because the title deeds were not registered in their names but those of deceased family members. As a result the majority was constrained by lack of credit and had low income. Lack of cash suggests that the farmers have difficulties in purchasing farm of the survey suggest that the household demographics and socio-economic variables may have an influence on the on-farm investment and on-farm productivity by the smallholder farmers. Furthermore, besides the challenges with land tenure, there are other factors that are likely to influence on-farm investment and on-farm productivity. The results of the survey revealed that smallholder farmers were faced with lot of challenges. These included lack of access to markets, grazing land, credit, farm implements, productions inputs and irrigation water. In addition to this the smallholder farmers were faced with both crops and livestock production constraints. Crop production constraints included lack of access to labour, transport, capital, storage facilities, pests, diseases, lack of management skills and severe drought. Livestock production was constrained by diseases, theft, attack by wild animals, lack of fence in the camps, labour, vaccines, dipping facilities too far and severe drought. For both crop and livestock production diseases and drought were major concerns for smallholder farmers since they were dependent on rainfall for their farming activities. With regards to improvements and investment there was little or not much investment that has been made by the smallholder farmers. One of the reasons mentioned by the farmers as the main cause for little or no investments is the lack of capital to make such improvements or investments. The study also employed empirical analysis through employing on-farm investment and on-farm productivity models of the study on the factors influencing the on-farm investment and on-farm productivity by the smallholder farmers in the study area. In both models, the independent variables were tested for their significance and it was found that some variables were significant whilst others were not. With regards to the dependent variable on-farm investment, household socio-economic factors such as household size, educational levels and farm size, had a positive influence in on-farm investment and were also statistically significant. On the other side, factors such as land tenure security, age, gender, household income and access to markets did not have any influence and were not statistically significant. From the perspective of on-farm productivity variables such as farm size, access to credit and access to extension services had a positive influence. However, variables such as land tenure security, age, household income, educational levels, access to implements, were negatively influencing onfarm productivity by the smallholder farmers. Key words: Land tenure security, smallholder farmers, on-farm investment & on-farm productivity

Submitted in fulfillment of part of the requirements for the Masters of Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / In South Africa, emphasis is being placed on the importance of establishing small and medium sized business enterprises. There is acknowledgement in the extant literature of the value of these enterprises as job creators and useful drivers for economic growth and innovation. Given the growth in small businesses, attention in this study is given on comparing the critical success factors between those businesses that are owned by foreigners and those owned by locals. Relationships between the two groups have not always been fruitful across the country, yet synergies can be generated to shed light into how both groups cannot only co-exist but operate optimally in managing their businesses. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore (comparatively) the critical success factors between foreign and locally owned small businesses. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted using interviews with five (5) foreign owned and five (5) locally owned small business conducted within the Ndwedwe area of Kwazulu-Natal. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Upon analysis of the data, three themes emerged as critical success factors affecting local and foreign owned businesses: (1) the underlying motives of starting a business enterprise, (2) the nature of business environment and (3) the necessity of formal or/and informal education in running a business. Interestingly, these themes appeared common in both groups. Furthermore, each of these factors affecting the success of small business was accompanied by poor community infrastructure and the unavailability of support and funding from government, including reimbursement during occurrence of natural disasters. Existence of sufficiently a strong business enterprise motive based on research findings is vital in any research undertaking. Substantially, an empirical angle to map more than one overriding motive for a business enterprise provides an opportunity to evaluate business success or failure based on the grounded motives. These motives may progressively incorporate the analyses of business environments, use of indigenous business knowledge and consideration of business education (formal and informal). Findings from this study encourage knowledge-sharing and interaction of SMEs in order to improve business enterprise development in Ndwedwe. The findings of this study also magnify the factors that are deemed critical to the success of small businesses and may be useful in mapping out recommendations on strategies and frameworks that affect either foreign or locally owned business. Based on the findings of this study, a network hub that places emphasis more on interdependence rather than isolated working between foreign and local owned businesses is encouraged. Through collaboration and sharing of experiences, small businesses in South Africa may potentially thrive. Furthermore, the findings of this study stipulate that SMEs need to have long-term plans and grounded motives on starting businesses. This will not only encourage SMEs to plan but will also develop educational strategies where SMEs can work together and share aptitudes to engage in strategic planning related to entrepreneurial success. / M

M.A. / In the former Republic of Venda, many people lost their jobs when industries that had mushroomed during the 1980's pulled out of the area. This happened just prior to the collapse of the Bantustan government. The most affected were women who, because of lack of education, could not get employment within and outside of the province. As a way of alleviating poverty, people resorted to selfemployment and community development projects. Different community development projects were started throughout Venda. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) helped women who were unemployed by giving them training and help them to start projects such as sewing, knitting, chicken farming, creches and small-scale gardening. The training of people in different skills was done as a way of helping to equip communities so that they may start projects that they could manage, and that could become selfsustainable. The new South African government, through its Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), also assisted the poverty-stricken rural areas to start generating projects that would generate jobs for the people. These programmes involved the communities, the NGOs and the government through the RDP. Short and long term projects that were considered suitable by the members and community developers in the different areas were started. In order to maintain the smooth running and the co-ordination of all their projects, many communities instituted Community Development Committees (CDC). The CDC was an umbrella body within a community whose members had been elected by the community itself. The main task of the CDC was to help the different `Community Development Project' (CDP) committees responsible for the different projects within the community to obtain funds from different sources. They also helped to organise training for interested project members. In most cases, they worked hand in hand with the civic association committees and the traditional leaders, as well as the community members themselves. In this study, I have compared the activities of the community gardening projects within two rural communities. These two gardening projects are at Mangondi and Tshisahulu rural areas in Venda within the Northern Province. In their attempts to fight unemployment and poverty, these two communities (like many other communities within the Province and Venda in particular) embarked on the establishment of several community development projects, gardening being one of them. Most of the gardeners in these two projects are women. These women vary in age, education and family situations. The aim of this study was to establish the problems facing rural women in their attempts to free themselves from the grip of poverty and unemployment that continues to render them marginalised. The provision of government policy on the problem of women's rights on land ownership was also examined. The method of research used in the collection of data during field work was the interview method. This method was most preferred because it allowed me an opportunity to ask questions directly to these gardeners most of whom cannot read or write. A literature study was done on the role and activities of women in small gardening projects and the development process. It is my wish that this work be of assistance to the development workers and the policy-makers as well as the RDP officers of the Northern Province under which this area falls.

Corporate social responsibility has become the business issue of the 21st century. Heightened expectations of the business sector, globalisation and increased media attention on the role of business in society are casting an intense spotlight on this issue. As a result, pressure has built on business to play a larger role in bringing about socio-economic development to many local communities where they operate. While for a long time companies have been involved in the community on a philanthropy basis, many companies today are reassessing the manner in which they conduct their corporate social responsibility programmes. Many companies are including corporate social responsibility issues into their strategic planning process and overall corporate strategy. Emphasis is given to certain strategic indicators that must be present in order for a company to be said to have taken a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility. This study adopted a critical-realist approach using a case study method to evaluate DaimlerChrysler South Africa’s corporate social investment programmes in the local community of the Border-Kei region against these strategic indicators. This new form of engagement is even challenging for a multinational corporation, which may feel that it is only obliged to assist the local community where its corporate headquarters is located. But as companies derive an everlarger share of revenue and profits from international operations, multinational companies are being called upon to redefine “community”, by looking beyond local, domestic and geographical communities to include those in regions where they have factories or factories operated by key suppliers. This study found that DCSA was strategically involved and had a good relationship with its local community. However, the company needs to be more connected with the rural communities to make local projects more successful especially after handover.

The influence of local economic development strategic leaders on how Integrated Development Plans (IDP) are developed is critical to gain insights into strategic planning directed towards economically developing municipalities. Concisely, the aim of this qualitative study was to gain a multiple understanding of how LED strategic leaders, namely managers of the LED directorate and sub-directorates at Makana local municipality influenced the IDP formulation. The fact that these LED strategic leaders, ‘make consequential or strategic decisions’ suggests that their decisions have an influence on the IDP formulation. Thus, the key research question in this study was: How do LED strategic leaders at Makana local municipality influence the formulation of the IDP at this municipality? This qualitative research used purposive sampling of incidents upheld by LED Strategic leaders. A total of ten in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with four LED strategic leaders regarding incidents of their perceived influence on the formulation of the Integrated Development Plan at Makana. The interviews were in-depth in order to gain a rich understanding of their perspectives of reality. As the number of LED strategic leaders was already very small, all the four leaders at Makana participated in this study. Interview data was transcribed and analyzed using open coding and constant comparison. Member check was conducted to enhance confirmability of the findings of this study. Findings indicate that LED strategic leaders perceived their influence on the formulation of the IDP Makana municipality in four varied ways. Predominantly, LED strategic leaders commonly perceived that they had influence in setting evidence-driven direction, and searching for fitness of activities and issues with LED strategy. Thereafter, the other ways in which these LED strategic leaders perceived how they influenced the IDP formulation involve the facilitation of clarity and local relevance of LED mandates, and finally the integration of multiple economic voices of stakeholders. This demonstrates that LED strategic leaders at Makana emphasize proactively managing strategy process rather than content in terms of identifying key opportunities and major economic drivers in the local milieu. Instead, they perceived their influence as characterized by enhancing compliance with bringing the process of municipal strategy formulation closer to stakeholders. Implications of these findings are highlighted.

This research outlines the challenges facing the implementation of the IDP in the Motherwell Township. Firstly, it is the physical setting and background of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Secondly, it is the brief background on IDP. Thirdly, it is the legislative framework for the IDP implementation. Fourthly it will be the discussion on the importance of the study. It is followed by the objectives of the study and the research methodology. The discussion on the literature review is also covered. Lastly, It is the chapter on recommendations and a conclusion.

This Research was undertaken to explore the challenges faced by the Eastern Cape Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs Integrated Development Planning Unit to support municipalities to deliver credible Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), using Sunday’s River Valley Municipality as a case study. The legal obligation of the Department of Local Government is to support Municipalities to able them to perform their function and execute the duties allocated to them. This mandate originates from the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996. The Provincial Department of Local Government Integrated Development Unit is therefore obliged to support and guide municipalities in the development of IDPs by mobilizing and coordinating sector departments to participate in IDP processes, and to identify and allocate funds for projects. It is suggested that the DLGTA IDP Unit is not doing enough to support municipalities so as to deliver credible IDPs, hence the wide-spread violent service delivery protests. The study aimed at establishing whether there is a direct link between the efforts or not of DLGTA to help the municipality to develop a credible IDP and service delivery protests. The IDP may be credible, but the implementation may be flawed, or funding does not flow as expected, or the people on the ground may not understand that it may take years to deliver services. The study targeted senior managers of coordinating Departments, the Sunday’s River Valley Municipality (SRVM) and IDP Managers of SRVM and the Cacadu District Municipality (CDM). The study discovered that sector departments do not participate meaningfully in IDP processes mainly because: (1) SRVM does not extend invitations to all sector departments to attend IDP meetings; (2) There is no legal obligation to participate at local level; (3) There appears to be no commitment shown by senior managers of SRVM on IDP Processes. The DLGTA IDP Unit efforts to assist SRVM to deliver credible IDPs cannot be deemed successful, because the SRVM IDP continued to receive medium rating score for four years in succession. The DLGTA IDP Unit never paid attention to the issues cited above as the cause of stagnation of SRVM IDP. The DLGTA IDP Unit was not aware that the issues cited above were the cause for the poor SRVM IDP until the researcher brought it to their attention. It is therefore recommended that the culture of participation in the IDP processes by top management of both SRVM and DLGTA should be included in the performance contracts of top management officials. It is also recommended that the Inter Governmental Relations (IGR) Framework Act be reviewed to recognize IGR IDP Structures at local level such as IDP Representative Forums. The Act currently is silent on those structures at local level.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Development Plan of Joe Gqabi District Municipality. The research instruments used in the study included the interview schedule and the questionnaire for both focus group and individual research participants. Research participants included the Community Development Workers (CDW's), Municipal officials, organised community structures, community representatives, ward councillors and ward committees, and interviews with representative groups. The research has revealed that there was non-involvement of the private sector and other social partners in the planning of the municipal programmes. There was also no practical integrated planning among the Local, Provincial and National spheres of government, as well as, a lack of alignment between the Integrated Development Plan, budget and Service Delivery and Implementation Plan. In conclusion, the IDP process needed to be as inclusive as possible to cater for the needs of all the communities and speed up service delivery.

Local Government has a critical role to play in rebuilding local communities and environments as the basis for a democratic, integrated prosperous and truly non-racial society and this is enshrined in Chapter 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The key focus area of this research study is the evaluation of the impact of Public Participation on the formulation and implementation of the Integrated Development Plan in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for the period 2004 – 2008. This research study has two aims that are related to public participation in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and they are: - To evaluate the impact of public participation in the Integrated Development Plan in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and whether public participation is seen as a vehicle to enhance policy formulation and implementation or not especially with respect to community ownership of the Integrated Development Plan. To provide strategies/mechanisms to remedy the situation. The research study is people focused and the methodogical approach that is used in this investigation is qualitative and quantitative. The target groups for this research is the Community residing in the jurisdiction area of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Metro Councillors and Municipal Officials.

This study demonstrated that the demographic profile of the Eastern Cape Province portrayed high levels of poverty and underdevelopment in the mostly rural population. This is despite the fact that the Eastern Cape is characterized by a rich endowment of natural resources, hosting a wide range of natural plant species, numerous rivers, water springs from mountains and no less than six biomes due to the variety of climatic conditions prevalent in the Province. In contrast, the natural resources found in the Province were regarded to have a high potential to grow and transform the economy of the Province. In this study, the integrated approach was conceptualized, developed and implemented in action within the rural communities selected with varying degrees of success, as a function of the material and objective socio-economic conditions prevailing in each community. A model for rural enterprise development based on agricultural production utilizing the principles of Community-Public-Private Partnerships was conceptualized and executed with the assistance of specialist professionals from various disciplines and organizations. Case studies structured on the basis of methodologies derived from the integration of natural sciences and indigenous knowledge systems were conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the conceptual framework of the study as indicated by the following case studies. The first case study undertaken was the development of agricultural enterprises in the selected rural communities in joint ventures through the commercial production of food and vegetable crops for local markets and to provide nutrition for the rural communities as the first line of therapy against the HIV/AIDS infection and other diseases associated with malnutrition. The second case study was the establishment of an agricultural enterprise in partnership between rural communities, government agencies and agricultural specialist for the commercial production of grain crops, namely, Sorghum alternating with Wheat to satisfy the demand of local markets for these crops. The third case study was the establishment of a community-based enterprise through the commercial production of two Pelargonium plant species, namely, Pelargonium reniforme and P. sidoides. The two species had a high market demand in the pharmaceutical industry; hence, the plant species were V domestically cultivated to satisfy the industry demand and to ensure the survival of the plant species. The enterprise succeeded in sustaining the livelihoods of the rural communities and conserving the plant species. The fourth case study was the commercial production of essential oil-producing plants in six selected rural communities providing employment for some of the members of these communities even though the initial phase of the start-up enterprise was a trial cultivation to determine the suitability of the environmental and climatic conditions for the propagation of the selected essential-producing plants. The demand for essential oils in local and international markets was determined to relatively high. The incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems of the rural communities in the planning and implementation processes in the areas of Commercial Agricultural Production and Primary Health Care resulted in a gradual paradigm shift on the part of rural communities from a dependence mindset to one of self-reliance that is critical for sustainable rural economic development and the improvement of rural livelihoods. An integrated approach in the strategic planning and execution that involved the rural communities by government stakeholders, the academic community and other stakeholders from the Private Sector was piloted. The recognition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems by all the relevant stakeholders and their essential role in rural enterprise development, food production and primary health care as a pre-requisite for a successful transformation agenda was highlighted as never before. An all-inclusive approach that accorded the rural communities the status of equal partnership had a positive impact on most aspects of planning and implementing programmes for sustainable rural economic development and biodiversity conservation. Working in partnership with rural communities was found to be a challenge; hence, an understanding of the sub-cultures and the social dynamics that often manifested themselves in the form of internecine conflicts became necessary for successfully initiating the research programme in the rural communities. Furthermore, recognition of the rural communities as an integral part of the solution towards biodiversity conservation and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources was found to be a critical component for an effective strategy to ensure the continued survival of the endangered plant species. This attitude underpinned the co-operation of the rural communities and the overarching goals of rural transformation towards the consistent and sustainable improvement of rural livelihoods. Theapproach also marked a radical shift from all the preceeding practices in biodiversity conservation and the management of sustainable natural resource utilization. The study demonstrated that the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Natural Sciences for sustainable rural economic development with the ultimate strategic objective of contributing towards the reduction of poverty, the improvement of the quality and cost-effectiveness of primary health care and adequate food production is feasible.